Bradford Mountain Winery

Bradford Mountain Winery was born out of owner George Hambrecht’s belief that there was something beguilingly distinct about the fruit from his family’s Bradford Mountain vineyards. Planted on a mountain plateau 1000 feet above the Dry Creek Valley floor, the vines produce a low-yielding crop of intensely-flavored grapes with an irresistible wild, brambly flair. Once sold to some of California’s most celebrated wineries, they deserved to be bottled independently, and given the opportunity to tell the story of this unusual and remarkable terroir.

During the late summer of 2004, we were fortunate to stumble across a Dry Creek Valley Vineyard of immense potential. The vineyard, situated at the western outskirts of the Dry Creek Valley appellation, sits above the fog line at 1200’ elevation. Because of our insatiable thirst for premium Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel grapes, we were fortunate to harvest 10 tons from this shy bearing vineyard and offer you our inaugural Bradford Mountain Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel, to complement our Bradford Mountain Grist Vineyard Zinfandel, the standard bearer of Zinfandel quality.

Nestled in the hills of the Dry Creek Valley, our Grist Vineyard has long been known to produce robust powerful wines, and our Syrah is no exception. Classic Syrah characteristics of blackberry, plum and smoke are complemented by the distinctly Grist Vineyard qualities of bright red cherry fruit to produce a wine that is slender yet firm in structure- lush to the finish.

The soil is red, volcanic and rugged, the growing season unusually long here. The Grist Vineyard, planted primarily to Zinfandel, covers several microclimates and variations in soil. The Bradford Mountain Grist Zinfandel shows the intensity typical mountain fruit. Red and Black fruits are amplified by the natural spiciness of the varietal. This wine is an excellent representation of the grape, which has made the Dry Creek Valley famous.